Saudi Gazette: Credit Suisse (CS) said on Thursday it planned to launch a debt fund in excess of $ 1 billion with its largest key shareholders to invest in emerging markets debt.

Khaleej Times: An academic expert has urged the MENA business sector to support and promote innovation in the workplace as part of corporate culture.

Khaleej Times: A huge majority of UAE residents are currently entangled in a debt trap even as the country’s Central Bank reports a spurt in the number of bounced cheques this year, a study by a UAE-based financial consultancy revealed.

KUNA: The homeland is set for a course of great challenge, and the top most challenge is to strengthen cooperation between the legislative and the executive authorities for the best interest of Kuwait, His Highness the Prime Minister Sheikh Nasser Al-Mohammad told Al-Seyassah daily in remarks published on Thursday.

AP: Polish authorities on Thursday extradited a suspected Mossad agent to Germany, where he faces charges over a passport that was used in the slaying of a Hamas leader in Dubai earlier this year.

Arab News: Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah has issued a royal order saying only approved scholars can issue fatwas (religious edicts).

Emirates News Agency: President His Highness Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan has ordered urgent delivery of relief to shelter displaced people in the areas of Pakistan hit by floods.

Oman Daily Observer: Brigadier Suhail bin Amor, Director-General of Criminal Investigation, Royal Oman Police (ROP), said that vehicle theft is an international phenomenon which emerged recently in the Sultanate.

Arab News: A new study on women’s businesses in Saudi Arabia has presented eight recommendations to give Saudi women the same opportunities their sisters enjoy in other Arab nations.

Reuters: The United Nations refugee agency called on Saudi Arabia to halt expulsions of Somalis to Mogadishu, rebuking the oil-rich kingdom for deporting 2,000 in the past two months to the war-torn capital.

The Peninsula: The Prime Minister and Foreign Minister H E Sheikh Hamad bin Jassem bin Jabor Al Thani, who chairs the Arab Peace Initiative Committee (APIC), said the letter addressed to the United States administration on a suggestion of the State of Qatar includes the Arab approval to enter into direct talks with Israel according to specific conditions on which they will be based.

Gulf Times: The UN released $ 650mn in Iraqi compensation to Kuwait, the latest payment of a war reparation scheme that began in 1994.

KUNA: Saudi Arabia is keen on preserving security and stability of Iraq, the Second Deputy Prime Minister and Interior Minister re-affirmed on Wednesday.

The Peninsula: The Emir H H Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani will visit Beirut tomorrow, the Lebanese Ambassador to Qatar, Hassan Saad, told reporters yesterday.

Saudi Gazette: King Abdullah, Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques, Wednesday met Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak in the Red Sea resort of Sharm El-Sheikh as part of a regional tour that takes him to Jordan, Syria and Lebanon.

Trade Arabia: More than 1,500 small and medium businesses have so far signed a petition over the labour authority's fees and sponsorship system.

Khaleej Times: Emirates Steel on Tuesday said that its finished products output surged 45.4 per cent in first half while sales recorded 30 per cent growth over corresponding period last year.

Khaleej Times: Dubai World’s global marine terminal operator DP World on Tuesday said business at its 50 cargo terminals across the world surged 16 per cent in the first half of 2010.

Saudi Gazette: Saudi Arabia’s efforts to diversify its economy are paying off as the country’s franchising industry, estimated to be worth SR3.75 billion, is expected to grow at an annual rate of 12 percent.

Saudi Gazette: A Lufthansa cargo plane caught fire and split in half as it was landing at King Khaled International Airport in Riyadh Tuesday at 11.38 A.M., the airline and the civil aviation authority said.